Every Time a Bell Rings
by kirax29
Summary: A D.E.B.S. take on It's a Wonderful Life. Just borrowing some characters to write a story. I claim no ownership of em!


Lucy flopped down onto the couch, threw an arm over her eyes and groaned. Scud pushed himself off of the wall he was leaning against and crossed the room. He knitted his brow and looked hard and long at Lucy. She had it bad. She had it so bad for that girl. He shook his head and sighed, then turned his gaze up to the ceiling. He was running out of ideas. He began pacing back and forth in front of the couch.

"So...breaking into the Debs house didn't work, giving back all that money didn't work, the fake bomb with the 'Amy Be Mine' balloon didn't work, you taking the SAT to try and get into the Debs, which was a retarded idea in the first place, didn't work either." Scud stopped pacing and headed over to Lucy. He picked up her legs and sat in the space they just occupied. Lucy just dropped them into his lap.

"Is this your idea of a pep talk, Scud?" She lowered her arm and let it rest on her midriff. She sighed and blew her bangs out of her eyes. "I'm stuck, Scud. I don't know what to do. Why won't she talk to me?"

Scud pinched the bridge of his nose and shut his eyes. Maybe it was time to clue her in. He felt it should be pretty obvious. "Luce, I hate to be the one to say this, but maybe it's simple. You're a criminal, she's a cop. Maybe the excitement of breaking the rules wore off when you got caught."

Lucy bolted upright and jabbed him in the chest with her finger, angrily. "Don't you tell me it's that simple. Don't you dare. It was more than that. _We_ were more than that." She paused and gazed blankly at the floor. "Right?"

Scud grabbed the finger that was still poking him in the chest, then pulled Lucy into a hug. "I don't know, Lucy. I wish I did." She backed out of the hug and searched his eyes, her own full of unshed tears. "I wish I was never a master criminal. This would just be so much easier."

Scud motioned for Lucy to move her legs and he got up off of the couch. He ran his fingers through his hair. He turned to look at her and said, "Careful what you wish for this close to Christmas. Those Christmas wishes have a funny habit of coming true." He then threw on his most boyish grin and walked out of the room.

Lucy looked down into her lap and laughed. "Christmas wishes my ass!"

It was still dark when she woke up. She guessed she must have fallen asleep on the couch again. Lucy yawned and stretched, but it felt wrong. It felt like...wicker. Wicker? Lucy frowned. She bolted to an upright position and peered through the darkness. It was _too_ dark. The Lair was never this dark. She stood up and tried to inch forward and make her way to a wall so she could feel her way around. She barked her shin against yet another piece of wicker furniture. "What the hell?" Lucy finally made it to a wall and found a light switch. Upon switching it on, she sees Mr. Phipps sitting on perhaps the ugliest floral patterned cushion on a wicker chair ever to be imagined. "You're a Deb. A guy Deb, but still a Deb." Phipps nodded and said, "I'm here to help you though." Lucy snickered as she quickly studied her surroundings, looking for quick exits. "Yeah, right." Phipps chuckled. It was a deep, resonant sound. It put Lucy immediately at ease, which unnerved her all the more. "I'm here to grant your Christmas wish." Lucy stopped casing the room and stood from her half crouch. "Are you guys bugging my lair? That is so not cool." Phipps laughed again. "No Lucinda. I'm here representing the Christmas Spirit. I'm here to grant your Christmas wish. I'm not actually Mr. Phipps, your crazy head made me look like Mr. Phipps. But I must say, I kinda like this deep voice. The last time I did this I had to be Tootie from the Facts of Life. Weird. Anyway, close your eyes." Lucy shrugged. She let her eyes slip shut and she held her breath. "You smell like a fresh cut wreath." "Shhh!" A half second later she heard some muttered cursing and Phipps said, "Ok, all done." Lucy opened her eyes. Everything still looked the same. "Uh. Oook...so where are we anyway? Wicker creeps me out." Phipps quickly surveyed the room. "Sorry, it's been some time since the waiting area was redecorated. Kinda looks like something out of an episode of the Golden Girls. No matter. You just need to lie down on the couch again, and you will wake up back at home in the morning." With that, Phipps turned and winked and was gone. Lucy raised her brows. "Well, this is an interesting dream. I guess I will just lie down, there are no exits outta this place." As if she were drugged, Lucy fell instantly to sleep.

She woke up on a couch yet again, but it felt a bit more familiar. She opened one eye. Tailfin. Check. Classic car couch. Normalcy. Lucy only had that thought for a brief moment. While she was on her own couch, she was not in the Lair. She was in a rather mundane apartment from what she could see. She sat upright. There was a Classic Roadster magazine on the table with an address stamp. Lucinda Reynolds, 10242 West...what? Lucy hadn't used her real name for a very long time. _Weirdsville._ She stood and walked slowly around the room. There was an album collection, she liked every title. There was a bookshelf full of books. She had read them all. There was a picture of her and Scud at his college graduation. _What?_ Scud had never gone to college. Lucy sat back on the couch. _Christmas wish my ass? Holy shit!_ She opened her wallet. In it she found three credit cards and a driver's license, all in her name. "Wow, I'm on the grid!" She laughed out loud. "How weird!" After thoroughly checking out her apartment, she remembered the whole reason she made this wish in the first place. _AMY!_

"I hope she's still a Deb," she mumbled to herself as she walked down her street, pressing the unlock button on the car keys she found in the apartment. Finally she heard one chirp, and turned to see a Dodge Charger's lights flash. "Not too bad, I guess." She hopped in and headed to the Deb Mansion. She parked right in front and grabbed the front gate, expecting the shock of touching the Deb force field, but there was none. She must have looked very strange to anyone who might have been watching, as each step was slowly and painfully drawn out. Lucy reached the front door and knocked.

Max opened the door. "Can I help you?" Lucy eyed Max up and down. Something was missing, but Lucy couldn't put her finger on it. "Uh yeah, hi. I'm looking for Amy." Max frowned. "Amy? Bradshaw?" Lucy grinned. "Yeah, that's the one." "Um, well, she's not here any more. You'll have to go back to Jameson. She was reassigned." Lucy's grin faltered. "Oh, well ok. Is Janet here?" "Now you have stumped me. The only people here are myself and Melissa." Lucy ran her hand through her hair. "What about Dominique?" "Sorry, I don't know anyone by that name." Max paused. "Did you want to come in? You look a little lost and a lot confused." Lucy nervously eyed the sliver of room she could see beyond the open door. "Um, yeah ok. What the hell." Max turned and entered the house, and that is when it hit Lucy. _Max isn't strapped._ Max looked slightly naked without her hand cannon in it's giant holster on her hip. From her trained eye, Lucy could tell that Max wasn't carrying anything at all. Max put her hand out in the direction of the couch, offering it up for Lucy to sit on. Lucy did, glancing all around the house as she did so. Max sat across from her. "So, you're a Deb, right?" Max looked slightly surprised, but just nodded. "Don't you guys normally carry weapons?" Max raised her eyebrows. "Well, only when we are on missions. Which has been few and far between lately. Not much comes the Debs' way. Not since the accident, anyway. There are only two active squads at any time."

Lucy almost couldn't hide her astonishment. "So your squad is only 2 people?" Max nodded. "We don't need more than two." "Are you sure you don't know a Dominique?" Max thought for a moment. "I seem to remember the name Dominique mentioned as a possible agent if they opened an international Debs office. But that never happened. Maybe that was the Dominique you are talking about. If not, sorry, I can't help you. Melissa is the only other person here." Max waved her hand in the direction of the kitchen. "She's probably baking something." Max scowled. It was the closest thing Lucy had seen to the Max she knew. A short girl with dark hair and glasses popped her head out into the living area. "I am baking!" Lucy had never seen this girl before, but she certainly didn't look like a spy. She didn't even look like she could handle herself in a fight with an eight year old boy.

Lucy stood up abruptly and mumbled something about leaving, opened the door and slammed it behind her. She leaned against the now closed front door. _What. Was. That. _Max without a gun. Max being polite. Max being polite to her. Too weird. She guessed that without Lucy Diamond to focus on, the Debs were small potatoes. No international bureau, no Dominique. Lucy guessed she was still sexing it up somewhere in Europe. She did wonder what Janet was doing. Maybe it was time for a drink at the Junkpit before continuing on to Jameson U. to find Amy.

Lucy hopped back into the Charger and drove through the familiar tunnels to find that they weren't so familiar. There were no holographic signs, and most of the tunnels weren't even lit anymore. She finally found the Junkpit, which looked exactly the same. _Thank goodness for small favors._ She entered the Junkpit and headed in the direction of her favorite table. She was elbowed, bumped, poked, pushed and slammed into a wall. "Ooof! Don't you people know who I am?" No one even looked her way. "Oh. Right. Lucinda Reynolds. Notorious...nothing." She felt eyes on her. She scanned the room, finally finding a pair of eyes looking in her direction. "Janet!"

Janet's eyes widened and she tried to disappear into the crowd of people dancing 20 feet away from her.

"Oh no you don't!" Lucy snaked out her hand and grabbed Janet's wrist. Janet shifted her weight and almost slipped her wrist out of Lucy's grasp. "Ah someone who still has a bit of moxie!" She more fully recaptured Janet's wrist and pulled her into a nearby empty booth. "Why are you running?" Lucy blew her bangs out of her face.

"What's it to you? I don't even know you!" Lucy shrugged. "Not entirely true. Why aren't you a Deb?" Janet very obviously flinched. "How did you know...? It doesn't matter anymore. I was kicked out. I almost killed the Chancellor of Bulgaria." Lucy nodded, knowingly. "But Amy covered for you. I didn't think anyone ever found out about that."

Janet eyes narrowed. "No one ever found out? Are you kidding? And Amy? Amy was already off of active duty by then. The Marsgate incident was 3 months before." Janet hung her head. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to..." She cut herself off. "It doesn't matter. There was no way I was getting my stripes after that. No graduating. After 6 months of not being able to figure out what I was going to do I was arrested for shoplifting. They found $7600 worth of merchandise. Oops. Anyway, it's been tough after that."

Lucy realized her chin was hanging somewhere around the area of her chest. She closed her mouth. While trying to process all of this information, she realized that she really needed to find Amy. Then a flicker of recognition passed through her mind. "Marsgate? As in Lefty Marsgate?" Janet nodded. _He's one of my guys. Well, _was _one of my guys. _ "What does he have to do with anything?" Janet rolled her eyes. "Everything. He's the reason for most of it. The reason the Schaffers imploded." Lucy's eyebrows flew up at the mention of the Schaffers. "Why isn't Amy on active duty? What did the Schaffer's do?" Lucy began hurling question after question at Janet. She remained stoic and just shook her head at Lucy. "Honestly, it's none of my business anymore. Oh, um P.S. I really like your sweater." Absentmindedly, Lucy looked down at herself and muttered a, "Thanks." She stood quickly, nodded to Janet and snaked her way through the crowd and out of the door.

As she clicked the unlock button on her key fob, Lucy noticed someone had stolen her hubcaps. She stopped, looking around her slowly, scanning the entire area. Seeing nothing and no one, she angrily shook her head and got in the car. She peeled out of the parking lot and headed to Jameson, questions flying through her brain. _What kind of incident was Amy in? What do the Schaffer's have to do with this? What does Lefty Marsgate of all people have to do with this? And what on earth would make anyone think they could get away with stealing Lucy Diamond's hubcaps?!_

She screeched to a halt in front of Jameson U. It only looked like it was made up of three buildings, academics & offices, a gym/auditorium, and a library. She headed to the academic building and found an office with a secretary.

"Um excuse me? Do you know where I can find Amy Bradshaw?" The secretary blinked at her. "The library. She's usually in the library." Lucy turned around and headed towards the Jameson Library. She opened the door slowly, cringing a bit at the way it squeaked. She looked around the painfully quiet library. She saw a young man in a sweater vest at the circulation desk, and another woman seated in front of a computer. Upon further inspection, Lucy thought this woman might be Amy. She slowly walked over to her, but Amy was lost in whatever she was looking at on the computer. As Lucy approached, she could see that Amy was looking at that art school in Barcelona she had told Lucy about.

"You know, it's not too late to go there." Amy snorted a laugh without looking up. "It's far too late, actually." She stopped her browsing. Lucy noticed the mouse was on the left hand side of the keyboard. _Amy's right handed._ She knit her brows and asked, "Why's that?" Amy turned to look at Lucy. "Well, you need to be able to draw or paint or have some kind of artistic skill to go to art school. I can't do any of those things any more." Lucy must have looked clearly puzzled or Amy must have taken pity on her as she began to explain. Something in the way Lucy was looking at her seemed familiar, but she couldn't figure out why. "Two years ago I was on a mission, gathering information on the Schaffer's. I had a contact who was working for them, but for whatever reason he wasn't happy. He thought they had found him out. So on a simple drop and go, I dropped. He shot me in the back. I'm paralyzed on my right side. I'm right handed. Get it?" Amy couldn't figure out why this woman she didn't know looked so sad. "Do I know you?" Lucy shook her head. Then looked at Amy again. "Marsgate was the shooter?" Amy nodded. "You know the real killer? He cut a deal with Attorney General. He took down the Schaffer's, and got away with shooting me." Amy rubbed her forehead with her left hand. "The Perfect Score makes a really lousy librarian." Lucy smiled at her, but the smile quickly faded. "Are you happy?" Amy locked her blue eyes on Lucy's brown ones. She saw a myriad of emotion cross that stormy sea. Amy opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. "I don't think I ever was, actually. Something has always felt like it was missing. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to catch up on."

Lucy nodded. "Hey, would you like to have a drink with me later?" Amy stilled, then rolled her wheelchair back from her desk. There was a glint in her eye as she sized up Lucy. "And what makes you think I would agree to that?" Lucy gave her a full watt smile. "Just a hunch." The left corner of Amy's mouth twitched up in a lopsided smile. "Ok, what the hell." Lucy turned and headed out of the library.

As she climbed back into the Charger, she wondered if she would even be here for that drink with Amy. She turned to pull her seatbelt on, and when she turned back, she was only slightly surprised to see Phipps sitting next to her. "So...what do you think?" "What do I think? Hmm. Well, the Debs are a lot more boring without me around that's for sure." Phipps nodded. "True. In more ways than one, you are responsible for the Debs as a thriving agency. You are also indirectly responsible for forged friendships. Some of those girls didn't end up in the greatest places without friends to back them up. And Amy. You saw what happened to her as well. So, would you like to stay and make the most of this reality? Or go back and try harder in your reality?"

She smiled at Phipps and put the car into drive. "Is it true that every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings?" Lucy laughed and Phipps smiled. "I don't have any wings yet." "Let's go home, Phipps."

Lucy woke up slowly, feeling drool drying on the side of her cheek. "Ugh. Gross." She turned her head, and realized she was back on her couch in her Lair. She sat up and looked around, double checking everything. Giant laser. Check. She stood and went to find Scud. She found him playing bingo with Marsgate. She glared at him and he looked alarmed, but had no idea why. Lucy grabbed Scud by his shirt collar and pulled. "Come with me." He nearly fell over, regained his footing and pointed at Lefty. "We will finish this later!" She dragged him outside and up the small hill next to the lair. "Scud, this isn't working anymore. We have to do something to get her back. She's out there somewhere." "It's time for plan B." Lucy looked sideways at Scud. "There's a plan B?" "It's Christmas, there's always a plan B."


End file.
